ASIA: India succeeded in using a mobile launcher to test-fire a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead deep inside rival China.

EUROPE: Italian lawmakers convened for the fourth time for what was expected to be a decisive ballot to elect Constitutional Court Judge Mattarella as the new head of state.

MIDDLE EAST: The Japanese Deputy FM said negotiations with the IS group threatening to execute a Jordanian pilot and Japanese journalist are “deadlocked.”

TECHNOLOGY: The UK Army carved out a new brigade specializing in fighting ‘information age’ psychological and social media warfare.

TOP STORY

Greece: The country sparked Eurozone outrage by refusing to honor its debts.

The government dramatically escalated its battle with the country’s international creditors, saying it would no longer meet with EU and IMF auditors.

The new finance minister used a joint appearance with a top Eurozone official to insist that Greece would no longer cooperate with auditors representing its international creditors.

Greece’s radical new government began searching for European allies to support its anti-austerity agenda, reaching out to France and Italy hoping for sympathy.

German Chancellor Merkel said there should be no debt relief for Athens, after the country announced it would not cooperate with auditors from creditors.

Chancellor Merkel underscored the refusal of Greece’s European creditors to consider forgiving part of the debt-ridden country’s rescue loans though stressing that Berlin’s aim remains to keep Greece in the Eurozone.